Ravi S. wrote: >I will be visiting San Jose in November. I would appreciate recommendations for >restaurants that are affordable, are quiet and the food is good. Ravi - I don't know how much help this will be, since I am terrible with names, but perhaps the others can help out. I was in san Jose three times this spring and was consistently impressed by the quality of the Northern Italian food. If that is not appealing to you, stop reading now! :-) The best is a restaurant about two blocks from the Convention Center/Hilton on the first floor of an office building. I think it is named for a person (Emilio's, Petro's, you know?) Very elegant service, carefully prepared food, reasonably priced and well thought out wine list. Comfortable and elegant. The next best is the restaurant in the St. Claire. Innovative menu, very well executed. Not as formal as the first place, but more imagination in the menu. Superb starters!! You could make a meal jsut grazing their first courses. I think the name is Il Panisse or Il Pannino. And the fianl place is very informal, kinda funky. Less expensive, more aplace you'd go with a group. It is also very close to downtown, maybe four blocks from the convention Center. It is on a second floor, and has a green house kinda room overlooking the street. Excellent pastagreatausage, friendly service. I think the name begins with a B. Hope this helps, and sparks soem discussion and is not too frustrating! Barbara
San Jose, CA
Restaurant Recommendations : San Jose
Someone wrote: : : I was in san Jose three times this spring and was consistently : impressed by the quality of the Northern Italian food. : If that is not appealing to you, stop reading now! :-) : : The best is a restaurant about two : blocks from the Convention Center/Hilton : on the first floor of an office building. : I think it is named for a person (Emilio's, : Petro's, you know?) Very elegant service, carefully : prepared food, reasonably priced and well thought out : wine list. Comfortable and elegant. : I'm guessing that this is Paulos. It's very good if it is. There is also a restaraunt called Emile's, but it's not Northern Italian. It's fancy/expensive Swiss/French if I recall correctly. : The next best is the restaurant in the St. Claire. : Innovative menu, very well executed. Not as formal : as the first place, but more imagination in : the menu. Superb starters!! You could make a meal : jsut grazing their first courses. I think the name is : Il Panisse or Il Pannino. : This is probably Il Pastaio. They had two restaurants (one in Los Gatos and one in Palo Alto) before I left the BA, and I heard they were doing another one in SJ. The Il Pastaio in Los Gatos was excellent, so I imagine this one would be as well. : And the fianl place is very informal, kinda funky. : Less expensive, more aplace you'd go with a group. : It is also very close to downtown, maybe four blocks : from the convention Center. It is on a second floor, : and has a green house kinda room overlooking the street. : Excellent pastagreatausage, friendly service. : I think the name begins with a B. Don't know about this one. Downtown has changed a lot since I've been there. If it's still around, I would also recommend Eulipia for Cal/American Grill type fare. It used to be fantastic, and not too expensive. The wine list was the best small list in San Jose. Not a stinker in the bunch. If you go there, ask for a waiter named Mark Mitchelltree. He's top-flight. Some truly great things in San Jose (and San Francisco) are the Taquerias. Super cheap, super good fast Mexican food. Soft tacos and burritoes the size of legless chihuahuas. It's strictly hot, slightly greasy, eat off of paper-plates type food, but the taste is incredible. It's probably the dining pleasure I miss most (Fresh Dungeness Crabs being a close second) since leaving the BA. I recommend Super Taqueria on 9th and La Perla Taqueria on 4th (I think). Get the carnitas soft tacos. email me for more. eric herbert @=====~~~~~=====~~~~~=====~~~~~=====~~~~~=====~~~~~=====~~~~~==@ + Eric Herbert + + [email removed] + + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + "Did I say kiss you on the bottom? Oh, beg your pardon. + + I meant to say, stick a pick axe through your spinal + + column!" -VYVYAN + @=====~~~~~=====~~~~~=====~~~~~=====~~~~~=====~~~~~=====~~~~~==@